I'm 41 and wants to retire because health reasons

[Butterfy]

I was searching for early retirement info and came across this site a few month ago. Discussions are insightful and come from first hand experiences.

I am 41, husband 45, 2 kids (12 and 16 yrs old)
I have been battling with rheumatoid arthritis for past 20 years. Illness make me tired all the time. Husband was diagnose with kidney cancer 2 yrs ago, and had surgery to remove part of left kidney. He recovered without problems but still have follow up every 6 months.

After my husband became ill, we thought about retiring early to get away from stressful life. I work in software make 130k / year, husband is self employ and make about 45k / yr. We are thinking about retire to florida, but concern about health care insurance. No insurance company would sell to us. Don't know if our savings would last.

We have 2 rentals in FL all paid off, 1 rental in CA that make $300/month extra after expenses, current home about $1 million with 175k mortgage, 300k in savings, 250k in 401k/ira, 30k in Roth. Don't have enough savings for college.

If we move to FL, and sell current home we would net about $800k. Together with savings, we could live comfortable. We live a frugal life and have been tracking expenses for past 12 yrs. How do i know if my plans would work? Any suggestions on insurance?

Thanks for reading. Look forward to your suggestions..

 

[obgyn65]

Welcome to the forum. Have you entered your numbers in FIREcalc ?

 

[growing_older]

That's a lot of net worth in your home. Are you open to the idea of downsizing to add some of that value to your savings? It might be a scenario to explore with FireCalc.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Leaving California sounds like a very good idea.

If you go to FL, I would suggest selling the CA rental. I do not like the idea of being a long-distance landlord. Been there, done that.

We could live in FL forever on your assets, but we have Medicare now, so I can't help with health insurance ideas.

A suggestion: Consider moving to La Paz in Baja, Mexico. It is an easy move for you. La Paz is American-friendly and probably less expensive than cities in FL. Warm to hot in the summer, but many Californians find it OK. Health care is said to be good and very inexpensive compared to the US. Many expats in Mexico pay cash for healthcare. If you do, again, I suggest selling the FL properties. If you insist on real estate, consider Vanguard's REIT index fund. No landlord headaches, not limited to one market and much more liquid.

Best of luck!

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

My comments are based on renting, not owning, even in FL. We lived in FL once, by the way. Personally, I would check out La Paz before I would consider FL again.

 

[MichaelB]

If we move to FL, and sell current home we would net about $800k. Together with savings, we could live comfortable. We live a frugal life and have been tracking expenses for past 12 yrs. How do i know if my plans would work? Any suggestions on insurance?

Thanks for reading. Look forward to your suggestions..

Hi Butterfly, welcome to the forum. Lots of RA among my relatives, including two that were also diagnosed in their early 20's. Treatment is much better now, and they lived to their late 70's.

Florida is a decent option. The public universities are not bad and don't cost nearly as much. Starting the first of next year you will be able to buy health care insurance. No word on what it will cost but looking at the policies available on the Mass exchange today should give a good approximation. See here https://www.mahealthconnector.org/portal/site/connector

You may want to sell all your Cal. property to make sure you completely severe your residency there, as that state is known for its aggressive pursuit of taxes even from those that have moved.

Not sure you will have enough to completely retire. Perhaps one of you can work part time. Even a few years of additional income can make a big difference at your age.

 

[Butterfy]

Thank you all for your insights. Guess I have to stay where I am until Obama care takes affect in 2014. Once we move to FL, we plan to use $$ from the sale of our home to buy rentals. This should supplement our income in retirement.

 

[comicbookgujy]

This is the only thing that is keeping me working. I'm 39 years old, almost 40 and ready to quit but my wife recently was diagnosed with cancer. She's in remission thankfully, but getting insurance would be quite a task.

Really suck that we're working only to keep our insurance.